'Potter' Cast Walks a While in Each Other's Shoes

By
David Germain
| Posted Nov. 19, 2010, 6:10 p.m.

Share:

LONDON – The "Harry Potter" cast is spending some time impersonating one another in the final two films about the teen wizard.

Daniel Radcliffe tries to capture the body language of various co-stars, including Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, in an early scene of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" where seven versions of his title character appear at the same time.

"To be perfectly honest, my impersonations of Emma and Rupert have been ready to go for about eight years now, so that was just pretty fun to be able to do," Radcliffe said in an interview for the film, which opened domestically on Friday.

The scene occurs as Harry's friends and allies transform into his likeness to confound their enemies, who are trying to trap him so evil Lord Voldemort can finish him off.

Though his doubles only appear briefly, the filmmakers wanted Radcliffe to really capture how Watson's Hermione Granger, Grint's Ron Weasley and other characters might carry themselves walking around in Harry's shoes.

"I think I got Emma in two takes," Radcliffe said. "I just think when you've spent so long with somebody, you kind of get a pretty good handle on them. I'm sure if you ask her to do an impersonation of me, she'd do a really good one. ...

"Rupert's actually really hard. I didn't realize how idiosyncratic he was until I started doing it," Radcliffe said. "When he walks, he really wiggles his hips, which is bizarre."

"I learned a lot about my walk," Grint said. "Because Dan kind of found out, because he had to mimic me, I have this weird, like pelvis move ... which I've been quite conscious of since."

The film also includes a scene where Harry, Hermione and Ron infiltrate the Ministry of Magic disguised as adult sorcerers, played respectively by David O'Hara, Sophie Thompson and Steffan Rhodri.

The filmmakers wanted the older incarnations of the characters to replicate Radcliffe, Watson and Grint's carriage.

"We were always on set when they were filming that," Grint said. "We'd do a take, just me, Dan and Emma, and they would kind of watch it back and really kind of try to mimic us and observe our mannerisms."

Watson said she talked the scene over with director David Yates, who was worried the audience might lose interest in the action, since unfamiliar faces were standing in for Harry, Hermione and Ron.

"I think the audience really sticks with the characters in these other bodies, and David was a real perfectionist about it," Watson said. "He wanted to make sure that it was really good, that there were these subtle things that really made it fly."

Co-star Helena Bonham Carter gets into the impersonation game for "Deathly Hallows: Part 2," the finale of the franchise due in theaters next July.